rundown" with chuck todd starting now. 9-9-9, no, not the return of herman cain. nine states, nine polls, nine leads for president obama ahead of the first debate next week. we breakdown the newest numbers facing the romney campaign in the battleground states. controversy in one of those key states, and where else but florida where allegations of voter registration fraud hit a company hired by the republican national committee. could it have happened in any other battleground? and saying so long to the senate, jon kyl sits down for the latest installment in on-going conversations with senators that are saying farewell. see what he says about george w. bush and john mccain. this is "the daily rundown." i am chuck todd. let's get to the first reads of the morning. in the last two weeks, we polled in nine battleground states

deciding the election. ohio, florida, virginia, colorado, iowa, wisconsin, north carolina, nevada, new hampshire. bad news for mitt romney, he doesn't lead in a single one. at best within the poll's margin of error. at worst, trails by eight points. this morning, how the nine states stack up. we said it again and again. the president's job approval rating may be the best indicator of where the bout may be. where it is more than 50, the president favored to win. iowa, florida, new hampshire, ohio, virginia, his approval rating below that, 47 or 48 in four. colorado, nevada, north carolina, wisconsin. here is a second way to breakdown the numbers. romney struggled with favorability number all year. that number underwater, more voters have unfavorable than favorable view in six states. romney is in positive territory

in just three. florida, north carolina, virginia. finally, a third bucket of looking at these numbers in the extent of romney's problems. for months, romney led on who could better handle the economy. in four more, he trails the president. colorado, iowa, new hampshire, ohio. tied at 45 in virginia. there are three states that the president hits the 49% mark, leads on the economy, and romney's favorability. consider those romney's problem states. one state where romney wins on the economy, right side up favorability rating and where the president's job approval is below 49, north carolina, which is why the state seems to lean, everybody thinks at the end of the day romney gets to 50 before the president.

as the poll out this morning shows, it is a razor tight race. the president up two among likely voters, 48-46. in nevada, leads by two. new hampshire, leads by seven points. romney launched his presidential campaign there and has a summer home there. we will see. we have three more polls, state polls and big three next week before the debate, a national poll coming out, but you see the environment. one other interesting note on polling, if you average the nine states together in the various leads, almost looks identical to the national polls. five and a half point lead for the president, 49, 44 with rounding, which of course is where all the national polls sit around five points for the president. romney starts his morning in a state that hasn't been able to put into play, pennsylvania. he will speak to veterans at valley forge military academy in a philadelphia suburb. only public event of the day.

he will be fund-raising in philadelphia, probably the motivation why he is in philly. slew of national polls show how damaging romney's remark on the 47% has been to his campaign. the most recent national polls trails the president by 5 to 8 points. instead of punching a national message, romney seems to be making the parochial argument. yesterday in virginia, warned an american legion audience that devastating job losses were coming if congress and the president go through with the defense cuts called sequestration. >> the impact will be immediate and significant here in virginia. 136,000 jobs will be lost in virginia as a result of this move. >> and though romney wanted to focus on defense cuts, he couldn't avoid questions on the 47% comment. he was forced to defend himself in a series of local television interviews. >> is there a clarification you would offer to voters about what

you meant? >> my campaign is about 100% of americans. my whole effort in running for president is to help those people that are struggling the most. this campaign and frankly my presidency if i become president is about helping people in the middle class have a better chance of making ends meet. >> of course, the president is hammering romney on the 47% remark. he is on the air with the third ad on the comment and it is brutal. it is the second time the president put out an ad narrated by romney. the first was america the beautiful ad. look at the new one. >> 47% of the people will vote for the president no matter what, they believe they're victims, believe that government has responsibility to care for them, who believe they're entitled. >> the president making his 13th campaign stop in virginia, rallied thousands in virginia beach and has a new line. >> during campaign season, you hear a lot about patriotism.

well, you know what, it's time for a new economic patriotism. an economic patriotism rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong and thriving middle class. >> on one hand, obama's idea, economic patriotism appears to be selling tax hikes on the wealthy, more government spending on infrastructure, also the centerpiece of a new tv ad that has the feel of a campaign closing argument. >> it is time for a new economic patriotism, rooted in the belief that growing our economy begins with a strong, thriving middle class. >> but don't let it escape you that this economic patriotism line is also an implicit hit on romney. we first hird it from ted strickland during his speech which was a rough one at the democratic convention. >> mitt has so little economic patriotism that even his money needs a passport. it summers on the beaches of the

came and islands and winters on the slopes of the swiss alps. >> when it comes to next wednesday's debate, both are trying to prove their candidate will be the least articulate gap prone guy on stage. >> the president is an eloquent, gifted speaker, he will do just fine. >> mitt romney has an advantage, he has been through 20 debates in the primaries in the last year. >> barack obama is an effective debater. >> governor romney has been practicing for months. i think the invasion of normandy took less preparation than he is putting into the debates. >> hasn't had a debate against a democrat in over ten years i guess it would be probably 2002. >> i have never been in a presidential debate like this, it will be a new experience. >> is your head spinning? expectations came at a fevered pitch. yesterday afternoon we got memos. first one was a memo from romney senior adviser beth myers that

couldn't stop praising the president. president obama is a universely aclaimed public speaker. voters already believe by a 25 point margin that president obama is likely to do a better job in the debates, given president obama's natural gifts and extensive seasoning under the bright lights of the debate stage. this morning, the obama campaign countered with its memo. senior adviser david axelrod. we expect mitt romney to be prepared disciplined and aggressive debater. governor pawlenty said he is as good as it gets in debating. maybe this is why the romney campaign predicted he will turn in a campaign changing performance such as ronald reagan's in 1980. here is the truth about obama and romney, neither a stellar

debater. obama didn't shine in the democratic primary debates, biden won them. that's why obama picked biden. candidate obama had a tendency to ramble in the debates, got better during mccain one on ones. while romney did well in this season's gop debates, had rough performances, bet you $10,000 he did. romney performances, the unspoken body language that the camera captured, they were brutal against ted kennedy. ivy league will enjoy biden versus ryan more. trust me. turning back to the brand new battleground polls. there's a different pattern emerging, president obama is ahead in new hampshire, tighter in nevada and north carolina. joining me, director of the marist poll. good to see you in person. >> welcome to the home of the

new york yankees. >> you're going to blow the playoff run. >> i am worried. >> we want the beltway series in washington. we have been looking at this as sort of the generic, the general all nine states. what is your take away? >> i think what you're seeing is a very big difference when obama is 45, 46 as months ago when everything was 44, now he gets to 48, 49, 50, you can say it makes a difference -- >> it does feel like 48 is a big difference -- >> seeing a change in the right direction in the approval rating. >> massive gender gaps. two places stuck out, nevada and new hampshire, look at this. 16 point gender gap in nevada among women. leads by 20 among women in new

hampshire. social issues, any time that moved new hampshire big time. >> big effort at the republican convention to try to close this gender gap, obviously not paying off in these states. >> only place where romney has double digit lead among men was nevada. it is not an equal one to one. early voting. i am struck by this. obama voters seem to know they're supposed to vote early. look at the numbers in nevada and north carolina. nevada, people say they plan to vote early, 53, 43. north carolina, vote early, obama, 57-41. >> that's the organizational difference and also we saw it four years ago with obama versus mccain. obama did better among early voters. in a sense, you saw this ad that obama has taken out in battleground states which is almost a closing ad where he talks directly to the camera

with new message of economic patriotism, and that's what you do at the end. it is the end or start of election month as opposed to election day. the obama people seem to have a better organizational handle on this than romney. >> the other thing we saw, a movement over time was the right direction, wrong trend. >> that's what's lifting an incumbent president. saw it especially in new hampshire where he opened a significant lead over mitt romney. >> what was the right track, wrong track? >> closed negative 20 points now to negative 7 points. still more people see it as not going well, but a huge change there, that plays an incumbent's way. >> how people read the state poll, it is about trends at this point. >> yeah. >> everything we come out with is a second poll in the last month. >> go through the same nine states. 110 electoral votes in the nine battleground states. we're going to see romney needs

a shift of the whole discussion and reframing of the campaign. he can't just target an extra trip to virginia and ohio. >> a fuller picture. >> change the dynamic of the numbers. >> the entire poll, the raw data on the mayor's website. for the conspiracy theorists, go look at it, play with the numbers yourself apparently. thank you, lee. republicans in hot water today. new allegations of voter fraud in a key swing state, that's next. and not every day a prime minister brings a cartoon bomb to the united nations. israel literally draws the line on iran's nuclear program. new concerns for diplomat safety in libya as the defense secretary says terrorists planned that deadly attack. first a look at the president and mitt romney's schedule. lighter schedules for them both today. a fund-raising day in particular for both of of them, the

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well, the republican national committee is in damage control mode after a firm they hired to register voters in florida and four other battleground states was hit with allegations of fraud. republicans abruptly had to cut ties with strategic allied consulting after it was linked to more than 100 questionable forms submitted in of all places, florida's palm beach county. >> some of the information on the florida voter registration forms were trying to register people with addresses in new york. some of the address changes that were being requested on the

forms were actually being transferred from a home address to commercial buildings. in one instance, the couple was being reregistered to an address in miami that's a shell gas station. >> can't make it up. michael scott, we planned on being joined by chairman of the republican party in florida who had to cancel this morning. mike, walk me through this story and what happened. >> it is causing headaches at the rnc this morning. the rnc goes out and hires this firm, newly created firm, strategic allied consulting, run by a somewhat questionable operative, nathan spew. they're asked to register republicans in five battleground states. they hire thousands of workers, over 2,000 in florida, paying them about $12 an hour to go

out, go door to door, get registration forms from republican voters. what happens is a couple weeks ago one of the workers drops off at a palm beach county satellite office 308 new registration forms. they go through, the workers go through it, find repeated problems in about 108 of them, including similar signatures, apparently phony signatures, and phony addresses as we just heard, some linked to a shell gas station, a land rover dealership and a medical building in boca. they then call in susan bucher calls in the republican director and he agrees there's a problem, they take it to the palm beach state attorney's office which launches an investigation. the florida republican party freaks out about this. they immediately fire the firm.

meanwhile, there are reports of these irregularities growing throughout the state. as of last night, six counties reporting irregularities in voter registration firms in forms from the firm, including according to paul locks, republican supervisor registering of dead people. the rnc obviously they made an issue of voter fraud. they fired the firm nationally. already paid it $3 million. i talked yesterday to shawn spicer, the communications director of the rnc. here is what he said. >> it is totally different. we at this point have an allegation, that mere allegation caused us to act swiftly, boldly, sever ties with the firm, we have zero tolerance when it comes to this. the other side clearly engaged a long time in inappropriate behavior. we don't believe it is appropriate and wanted to make swift and bold action to

illustrate that. >> mike, you can't help but sit there, republican party has been pushing this line, acorn, all of this, and the only evidence this year comes from their side. >> exactly. i should say i spoke last night to nathan spruell, he says he is the victim. he says he has strict quality control measures. he goes out, he is furious at the florida republican party for suggesting his firm was involved in voter fraud. you could see lawsuits here which would make it even messier. >> michael isikoff, national correspondent. nice work. thanks for that report. moving on. both president obama and mitt romney are expected to speak with prime minister benjamin netanyahu, following the leader's impassioned plea for

action against iran. netanyahu tried to make as clear as possible why he believes iran's nuclear program must be stopped sooner rather than later. >> a red line should be drawn right here. before, before iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb. >> with me now, msnbc special correspondent, tom brokaw. you have seen a lot of u.n. speeches. >> jon stewart teed it up saying it looks like a wiley coyote cartoon. this is a serious issue. seems the way the prime minister presented it before the united nations. >> had an american president did something like this, what would the reaction be? i am sort of shell shocked. >> take the two candidates, think about what they would have said if president obama had done

something like that. >> george w. bush. >> from the right or george w. bush, or if mitt romney made a speech and held up that kind of a bomb and drew the line. it boggles the mind. these are serious issues. they are complex. the country and the world deserves to know exactly where we are in the process and where we're going to get to. >> i know that particularly netanyahu always savvy about the american media. this was clearly designed so that more of us would cover this. it was an and t-- antic. >> i think probably benjamin netanyahu's standing with important leaders is pretty well fixed, i don't think it moves it one way or another. he is a hard liner. he doesn't like this

administration plainly. they have some real differences. he is quite close to mitt romney. he knew him before -- >> how about the fact, i was going to say, how about the fact today he will speak by phone to both. a world leader doing that -- >> that's a danger for him, i have known him a long time. he is always moving forward. the danger is that he can involve himself too demonstrably in the american election this time with the kinds of statements he has been making, positions he has been taking. he is imposing himself on what the american people need to decide for themselves. >> take it in the reverse, how often, you could say in not so friendly democracies, america over the years may have gotten involved in leadership elections, but in some of the most friendly allies, how often do american presidents do that? >> they generally stand back, let the american people make a decision. in fact, at this time which is a volatile time in that part of the world, what is also striking

to me is that this gives president obama cover to some degree, not just on the iran issue. >> take the libyan situation. >> the libyan situation especially. when mitt romney made his i am temper at remarks and got his hand slapped, roughed up by the right wing conservative press, "the wall street journal," that gave president obama more than he deserved. i remember when arab spring -- a number of people i have a high regard for in this area, nonpartisan said it is time for complete review of policies in the middle east deciding where we're going to get there in a macro sense, we are going to work our way through that. suddenly we have this kind of thing going on in libya with an unprotected consulate. >> what's the toughest question both candidates would duck on this question, what would you do about an arab -- about democracy

uprising in a place like saudi arabia? >> that's a tough question. i think what i would do is hypothetical. we will deal with it when it comes. saudi arabian leadership, i know because i am still in touch with them, that's a great concern of theirs. >> and the next u.s. president has to deal with it, like mubarak all over. >> they're trapped between the mu has been ee movement, and the generation without jobs, saying wait a minute. other countries, people have more voice in government. always a pleasure. preview of wall street in a minute. and big man democratic donors proving us right. they are ponying up with super pac dollars. and senator jon kyl has his exit interview with us, part of our series with departing u.s. senators. first, today's trivia question.

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last day of trading of the third quarter. there may be good news for blackberry users. i use both. let's get to the market run-down. becky quick is here. i am a dual user. let's be realistic. one starts the web a lot better than the other. >> the other you can type on, the notes you send all night, i know which one you have to use more frequently. we will get to that in a moment. the market is opening, a lot of

of red arrows, looks like the dow is down 70 points out of the gate. if looking at the last trading day of the quarter, it has been good for stocks. dow up by more than 4% for the quarter, s&p 500 up by 6%. today we got some not so great economic news in terms of personal income, how much money people bring home. for the month, it was up by only 0.1%. consumer spending, how much to spend to get basics out there, up 0.5%. partly because gas prices were higher. inflation is eating up more than people bring home. not great news. for blackberry holdouts, chuck, you too, great news. the company had better than expected earnings. giving stock some hope. yay, i don't have to switch to iphone just yet. >> keep the keyboard, i will be a dual user. i promise. >> i am told that they put a keyboard on that, i would trade to iphone. for now, i have the corded

keyboard. >> they figured that out. thank you. up next, more of my candid conversations with retiring senators. "the daily rundown" will be back with another exciting interview in 30 seconds. on the radar, the u.s. protects staffers as violent protests begin in libya. could be more jail time for the man behind the anti-muslim film that spurred the protests, and

president obama's staff gets help from a super pac. a website warned of violent demonstrations similar to the ones that killed four americans, including ambassador chris stevens. in a briefing yesterday, secretary of defense leon panetta said he believes terrorists are responsible for the attacks, not protesters. >> i think pretty clearly it was a terrorist attack because a group of terrorists obviously conducted that attack on the consulate. and against our individuals. what terrorists were involved i think still remains to be determined by the investigation, but it clearly was a group of terrorists that conducted that attack against that facility. >> filmmaker behind that anti-muslim video that spurred some protests, particularly in egypt and across the muslim world is behind bars. he was arrested for violating probation yesterday, they looked into if he violated terms of

release from prison when he made the film. he was in prison on bank fraud. prosecutors say he could go back to prison up to three years. finally, billionaire financier george soros has given $1 million to priorities usa action, super pac helping obama. he is known to give to grass roots organizations that are part of what he calls a progressive infrastructure. he had been sitting on the sidelines a long time. he is back and i am sure people will take note of that, spending less than some of the liberal's boogie man, the koch brothers. now the latest of interviews with senators leaving. several of them blame lack of bipartisanship. arizona's jon kyl, number two in

republican leadership, said that's not what's pushing veteran lawmakers out the door. >> purely coincidental, has nothing to do with what's happening in washington. >> they have all expressed some form of the senate is broken. when you hear that criticism what do you say in response. >> that's not why i am not running for re-election. you know how politics works before you get into it. it is part of the process and i am leaving because i think it is time for me to leave and go back to the private sector, but it is true neither the house or senate functions the way they used to and the way that would be more productive for getting people. >> what does that mean when people say the way that it used to. when you say that, some people row mant size it, say the good old days of impeachment and clinton, when you say the way it used to, what do you mean? >> two things. first of all, 40, 50 years ago,

members were reimbursed for one airplane flight home. and there weren't that many airplane flights. members spent time in washington. those that were close could go back home. others didn't. today, almost all members, except the old ones, go home every weekend, so there's less time in washington to do business here. that's not necessarily bad but it is one explanation why things don't get done. the other reason i believe has to do with the media. because there's now talk radio, so much cable television and other media coverage that has to be filled with something, a lot of it has to do with politics, and it is much more exciting to cover contests and controversies than legislation getting done. right after an election is over, we start talking about the next election and so instead of having about a year of time out where members get together and do legislation and business, you start immediately setting things up so the other party will take the blame, taking votes to hurt

members of the other party, in other words, playing the political game rather than getting things done. harry reid hasn't wanted democrats to take tough votes. as a result we haven't done a budget, single appropriation bill. his members don't have to worry about taking hard votes. that's not good. >> any vote gone back in the senate you want back? >> there were some i would probably reconsider, like the second tarp vote i voted for that. not sure i would again. you're always making decision based on circumstances you know then, not in hindsight. >> looking at tarp, did it work? >> no. no. we felt that it was the second part of unfinished business and that the market was in tenuous position. i did not think they would use tarp for the auto bailout. had i known that, i definitely

wouldn't have. >> you think the auto bailout was a mistake? >> it was. here is a case where mitt romney was right. the bankruptcy that eventually occurred should have been allowed to occur sooner. it would have been easier for the company to rebound. you wouldn't have denied the rights to creditors that occurred in the way they did it, and you could save the taxpayers a lot of money. >> was it your dad's career i want to go into politics that got you into politics? >> no, it is my interest in ideas, in the ideas, the founding of this country and different ways in which governments are formed and work and going back to 1960 when i read the conscience of a conservative by barry gold water, getting excited about the idea of limited government. >> describe without going into the ideal president, one attribute they should have. >> start with george w. bush.

the courage to make tough decisions even though you know they may hurt you politically, but you better combine that with a churchill skill, talking about winston churchill now and to some extent abraham lincoln and ability to explain decisions so people get behind you, continue to support you in tough times. i think you need to pay enough attention to really understand the issues but to be able to delegate enough so you don't get mired down. one of the criticisms of jimmy carter. ronald reagan, they said he didn't pay attention to details. he had the big things right. now that we have gone back, read diaries and letters, we know he did a lot of that work himself, didn't delegate to staff. it was the big ideas. he let staff handle the details. also, you have to be able to manage people. to some extent one of the criticisms i have of president obama is that he has turned too

much over to other people and doesn't work well with congress. you need to work well together. >> let me ask you about the relationship with senator mccain. i asked it of senator hutchinson. is it a blessing or curse to have the president or nominee be from your home state. >> john and i represent the same constituency, he will be elected to senate, i will be gone before he will. he is my colleague this entire time. larger than life in many respects. that has its plus and minuses, he is playing the national issues, i am doing a lot of things that relate to the state. he is very good when he focuses

on a state issue. he can be effective working on a state issue as well. we have been able to divide responsibilities so it worked well for us. for me, it has been very much a plus, even when we have disagreements. quick story, first or second week in the senate, down at the table voting. i find john and i vote differently on an issue, i don't recall what it was. i said john, i sought him out. you voted yes, i was going to vote no, or vice versa, he laughed. he said we're going to vote different all the time. don't worry about it. most of the time we vote alike, of course, but the point was you don't have to do what i do just because i am doing it, and so it gave me the confidence to do what i thought was right. we always work together and from my perspective, being john mccain's wing man and colleague has been a very special experience, i'll put it that way. >> senator kyl, thanks very much. >> you bet. a fuller 20 minute version of that interview, you should

look at it, it will be posted on our facebook page and on the show website. it will be there by the weekend, i promise. the political panel next. and political programming, this sunday on "meet the press," new jersey governor chris christie will be david gregory's guest. white house soup of the day. sweet potato. not sure it is a soup. be right back. capital one, thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day! ahh, the new fabrics, put it on my spark card. [ garth ] why settle for less? the spiked heels are working. wait! [ garth ] great businesses deserve the most rewards! [ male announcer ] the spark business card from capital one. choose unlimited rewards with double miles or 2% cash back on every purchase, every day! what's in your wallet? [ cheers and applause ]

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like a squirrel stashes nuts, you may be muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® liquid gels. nothing starts working faster than zyrtec at relieving your allergy symptoms for 24 hours. zyrtec®. love the air. five days before the first show down between president obama and mitt romney at a debate at university of denver. we have a couple of polls from swing states to show you. the poll roundup for the morning. in virginia, president obama leads by two. in iowa, romney by one in a republican poll done for iowa republican website there, moving

down the ballot, add some other numbers in the nbc wall street polls, dean heller leading berkley by five points in the new hampshire governor race. in north carolina, the republican pulling away over the democrat. and we have melissa harris-perry, and republican strategist and former adviser to chris christie, mike duhane. maggie, start with you. we have all of the debate memos. right now, the only time you can see one side compliment the other is on debate skills. apparently one is lincoln, one is douglas, the other is not. >> one is cicero. my colleague alex burns wrote if either of the guys manages to tie their shoes and make it to

the podiums, it will be impressive to the advisers. what we hear out of the camp, my guy is terrible, your guy is the best. it is a tremendous level of expectation setting. i think they're both right and wrong. president obama has done this before, but i think there are legitimate concerns about howl's do. mitt romney has never done it on this stage before, that's a legitimate concern. you're going to continue to hear it for five days. >> melissa, there are some truths. for a challenger, first time on stage with the president, it helps them, you have seen it, monday dale with reagan, john kerry with bush, it helps elevate them. there were times it didn't, bob dole first time didn't help him. >> that's a special case, hard to be on stage with president clinton have that turn out well, he is particularly uniquely capable of drawing in an audience. >> people thought that of reagan, he had a bad first

outing. >> rag had eagan had an age thi. clinton is extraordinary. i think debates are so different at this moment in a campaign. we have folks calling this campaign the early voting has started, the sense that this is, you know, still sort of a meaningful contribution is up for grabs. >> mike, watching one of the things we've seen, something the polsters warned about, fewer and fewer folks claim the debates are as decisive for them. >> i think they will be. you still have a small undecided. that's what makes the difference. >> they watch, right? that's the hope, you want to be sure they watch. >> yes, i think both sides want that. ratings will be good for the debates, it is a great opportunity, in terms of expectation setting, they're excellent. wouldn't be at this stage without being. >> you can't get through the process which is a ridiculous

obstacle course some days without doing that. >> there has been a lot, both expected to do well. it is a great opportunity for people to see governor romney for who he is. >> how important, you work with other republicans running for office, how important to do well. >> everybody pulling for the electoral and down ballot, most in the republican party think president obama hasn't been a good president. in terms of the country, you have everybody pulling forward. >> maggie, you have a concern among republicans that romney has to close this gap or suddenly political darwinism kicks in. >> well put. there's a tremendous concern on two fronts. number one, you have seen republicans give mitt romney advice, seeing it again, charles krauthammer, go big. >> that column is only once a week. >> exactly.

today is friday. that's the way it goes. you have a lot of concern among senate campaigns how mitt romney will effect them. you have seen it predictably with someone like linda mcmann, not a surprise she's edging away. >> even joe allen. saw david state. >> george allen was hedging a little bit. melissa, you brought up something about early voting. do you think early voting -- do you think it's wrong we push people to vote before the debates? >> "wrong" seems like the wrong word. i'm a little nervous about it, only because i'm enough of a political scientist and optimist to believe debates ought to matter. i'm a little nervous about folks making up their mind, only because there could be new information to make them want to change thur vote later. that said in this particular campaign where there are stark differences between the two candidates with an incumbent president. >> it's the undecided voters who are waiting. >> the partisans are the ones jumping in early.

stick around. trivia time. we asked name the two republican members of congress who represent a different state than their parents did. the answer is senator jon kyl. his dad was jon h. kyl. the elder represented iowa in the house and dan quail's office represented indiana first in congress and the senate. you had to read the question very carefully. that's what friday trivia is all about. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout our lives. one a day women's 50+ is a complete multivitamin designed for women's health concerns as we age. it has more of 7 antioxidants to support cell health. one a day 50+. to support cell health. every room deserves to look us what our great.te color is? and every footstep should tell us we made the right decision.

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let's bring back or panel. mike, chris christie is doing the sunday shows on behalf of mitt romney. haven't seen him traveling as much. what's the schedule like? >> recently i was in missouri and utah and new hampshire. >> was he with todd aakin?

>> he was the governor. >> he was in iowa as well? >> he was for a member of congress, and he's going to travel more, especially in a lot of governors' races and mitt romney as well. >> you know, on the surrogate front it's interesting. bill clinton is everywhere. melissa, i saw an e-mail out here. barack obama said after the debate he's meeting up with bill clinton again. who is the running mate, biden or clinton? >> biden is definitely the running mate. look, as the former president and as a former president two terms that the party is willing to put out there. the difference is george b. bush is a two-term president. the republican party does not have george w. bush on the trail, despite the fact that mr. romney has many bush advisers particularly in foreign policy. there's nothing like someone that held that office during good economic times and you put him on the trail. >> it's amazing you how that

turn-around in this relationship. what's going through bill clinton's head? >> we can only imagine. don't fill in the blanks. >> shameless plugs. >> we have a good story today about how the problem with mitt romney is actually mitt romney and less about the campaign. >> mitt romney said it himself. >> chris christie best job with his ratings in his term. >> and for my colleague? >> of course, saturday and sunday 10:00 a.m. to noon. we're going to talk about this week in voter suppression and more education nation on the show. >> thank you all. this is the daily rundown. we'll see you on monday. i think i'll be in washington and then we go to colorado. coming up next is chris jansing. good-bye. [ male announcer ] when a major hospital

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warning signs are not the same for everyone. if you think something's wrong... see your doctor. ask about gynecologic cancer. and get the inside knowledge. good morning. i'm chris jansing. florida, pennsylvania, iowa, and wisconsin. candidates and their running mates and wiving continue to blitz swing states today. brand-new nbc